


The broken children of Brahma

by magznus



Series: Jupeter fics [4]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Anxiety, Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:15:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24344860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magznus/pseuds/magznus
Summary: I was going to wait to post this, but the episode is out tomorrow and will completely destroy it so....heres some post-shadows in the ship Jupeter angst
Relationships: Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Series: Jupeter fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602751
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	The broken children of Brahma

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a convo in the discord and got a little out of hand so I'll do a chapter two to include the discord stuff more later

There were voices floating above him as he drifted in and out of conciseness. sometimes angry or frustrated in the distance other times soft and reassuring in his ear. The last solid memory he had was of unbearable pain in his leg, followed by a worried Juno hovering over him. After that everything turned to static bright on by pain and pain killers.  
It could have been only a few hours or weeks for all Peter knew since the last time he was fully awake. As the darkness faded and he was finally aware of his own body once again he realized two very important things. Firstly, he was in a room he did not recognize but was most definitely not the Carte Blanch. And secondly, he was completely alone.  
There were obvious signs of life through the room, that he decided was most likely a cheap hotel, clothes were laid out on the bed next to his, and there was food on the counter in the kitchenette. He sat up slowly as he took a stalk of himself and his surroundings.  
His leg, while still throbbing, was obviously well on its way to healing. Meaning that he had been unconscious for much longer than made him comfortable. He was in clothes that did not belong to him, and he did not recognize as belonging to anyone from the crew. Each new discovery made him more and more uneasy, the windows were closed but he could hear the sounds of a city moving around on the other side of the wall, and next door voices were arguing back and forth in growing volume.  
A door that must have lead to the room next door began to slowly open, and in a slit second desition Peter jumped from the bed ignoring his leg and moved silently to stand against the wall. A shorter figure stepped through, closing the door behind them and before either of them could think Peter grabbed them from behind in a chock hold.  
“Fuck! Nureyev?” Juno reached up and grabbed his arm, pulling it away from his throat.  
Peter let go of him immediately, looking Juno up and down as he spun around. He was wearing clothes that looked much like Peter’s own, new and plain. He looked shocked for a moment before releasing what was going on.  
“Oh god Nureyev,” He reached up and grabbed Peter’s shoulder, pulling him away from the wall and steering him back towards the bed. “You shouldn’t be up! Your leg can’t support you like this. God, what were you thinking?”  
“I..I don’t” Peter sputtered as he was sat on the bed. “I was alone, I didn’t know where you were.”  
Juno looked down at him with a sad smile. “Sorry, we didn’t think you were going to wake up for a few more days. Vespa pumped you pretty full of pain killers after everything.”  
“Everything? I know I hurt myself fairly badly Juno but it wasn’t that bad. And where are we, where is the ship.?”  
Juno let out a heavy sigh and sat down next to Peter on the bed, “You’ve been out of it for about a week and a half Nureyev. The night after you got hurt, something attacked the ship, we still aren’t completely sure what or who it was but they messed us all up pretty bad. Somehow a bot of some kind got on board and started picking us off one by one. We are pretty sure it started with you because you were already alone and vulnerable, somewhere after it got both Rita and Buddy. The rest of us did our best to take it down but according to what we saw, it was able to change into different people, Vespa thinks it used DNA samples from those of us it had already found. It managed to steer the ship toward the closest plant and made us crash.” He rubbed the back of his kneck, a sad smile on his face “The ship was completely wrecked, Jet’s tried but we don’t have much hope. Really it’s a miracle that any of us survived, let alone wit has few injuries as we did. I mean we all got pretty scratch up but the worst injuries were your leg and Buddy’s arm. Jet had to go raid a local hospital to get enough supplies for the two of you.”  
Peter, who was silent the entire time Juno was talking, turned to look him in the eyes and ask a single question. “Where are we?”  
“What do you mean? We’re in the shittiest hotel Jet could find on this planet.” Unlike before Juno’s voice seemed slightly strained and too quick for Peter’s liking.  
“Where are we, Juno?” If Peter could make a guess he was sure he wouldn’t like the answer, he had seen where they were headed before his injury. He knew which planets they were on their way to passing in the next few days. Juno’s sudden silence only proved this train of thought. “Danm it Juno what planet are we on?”  
“Brahma!” Juno stood up suddenly “Okay? We crashed on Brahma about ten miles away from New Kinshasa, that's where we are. I’m sorry.”  
If Peter wasn’t filled with such sudden fear and anxiety at his current situation, he would have marveled at the fact that the crew had cared enough to carry him ten miles while he was completely useless. But instead, his mind was filled with unending panic at what lied outside of the hotel room. Someone must know he was there, they would probably know the second he had entered the atmosphere. There were most likely people searching for him already, and he was beginning to feel the pain of his still injured leg creep back. He was completely defenseless and vulnerable. He would have no way to escape when they did come for him.  
“Nurey….Nureyev!....Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay.” Juno was standing above him, hands holding his tightly. “Come on Nureyev, I promise it’s okay. You need to breath okay? Can you take a deep breath for me?”  
It took a moment, but Peter was soon able to take in more than a gasping breath. He hadn’t realized that tears had begun to stream down his face or that he had begun to grip Juno’s hands so hard he was sure he was leaving marks. Peter pulled them back quickly, moving instead to wrap his arms around himself.  
“Sorry. That was...I just didn’t expect-”  
“Hey, it’s okay. I get it.” Juno sighed, reaching up and gently wiping the tears from Peter’s face. “I know this isn’t a great situation, and I know you didn’t want to ever have to come back here. But we are here now, and we are going to deal with it together. Okay?”  
Peter sighed, turning his face slightly into Juno’s hand where it now rested on his cheek. “I don’t suppose the others are still in the dark about everything.”  
“I explained the bare minimum. I figured you would want to tell them yourself.”  
“Yes, that would probably be best. Thank you.”  
Juno smiled, his thumbs rubbing soft circles on Peter’s. “They aren’t going to hate you, you know?”  
“I never said-”  
“Yeah, but you were thinking it.” Juno said, his smile turning into a smirk “And there’s no getting out of it because Vespa is probably on her way in here soon to check up on you anyways.”  
Peter glanced anxiously at the door that Juno had come through, “What all did you tell them? Because I’m sure I could come up with something else and I don’t really have to leave this room with my injury and every-”  
“Peter.” Juno’s smile had fallen as he turned Peter’s face to look him in the eye. “It’s going to be okay, I meant what I said. They won’t hate you. I think you forgot who we travel with sometimes, no one has a clean record, and everyone has something in their past that they aren’t proud of.”  
“Hm, you know Juno. You are getting quite eloquent.” Peter smiled.  
“Yeah well, you’re rubbing off on me. And you’re not sweet-talking me into not making you talk to everyone.”  
With a sigh Peter let Juno step back and turn towards the door, in an anxious instant it was open, and in another, the room was filled with their small crew. They all looked worse off than Peter had ever seen any of them. Bruises and scrapes that had not healed littered arms and faces and Buddy most prominently was favoring her right arm.  
“I see that I missed quite an ordeal,” Peter let out an empty laugh. “I’m sorry I was useless to you.”  
Juno sighed “Ransom-”  
“It was entirely not your fault dear.” Buddy interrupted. “None of us blame you for getting injured. It wasn’t as though you chose to be indisposed during our little ordeal.”  
As they spoke Vespa had walked up to Peter had begun to look him over, grumbling about him waking up too early and moving around too much. He did his best to block out her disappointed words and instead focus on Buddy still talking to him. The anxiety had once again returned with a burning fire, sitting painfully in his gut as he could feel the crew’s annoyance with him growing with each moment.  
“Pete Darling, are you still with us?” Buddy was looking at him with something that he almost mistook for worry, “Are you alright? I know this must all be a lot to wake up to, you must be quite overwhelmed.”  
“Yes, um...I’m fine.” Peter tried to keep his voice even, but he could hear himself that he had failed terribly.  
“Buddy I think-” Juno’s voice was distant as he spoke from above Peter. “-Panic attack earlier, maybe everyone else should leave for a minute.”  
“It’s fine!” Peter spoke up, louder than he had meant to. “I’m fine I just...I can’t…”  
“Okay, that’s enough” Juno stepped away from where he had been standing above Peter to crouch down on the floor in front of him. “Peter, look at me.”  
It was strange, to be on the other side of comfort, something Peter hadn’t experienced in years. He could feel the eyes of the crew on him, watching as once again he began to break down. Juno was talking to him, and Buddy was talking to the others somewhere above him. This time the panic didn’t ebb away slowly with the sound of Juno’s voice, instead, it only grew.  
Panicked breaths escaped him in waves making it harder and harder for him to draw in a full breath. They turned into broken sobs that he couldn’t control, and as he realized that it was too late to stop the crew from seeing him like this he gave up trying to stop it. Peter fell forward into Juno, letting him take on his full weight as he broke into a thousand pieces.  
There was a sharp pain in his leg and a curse from Juno as Peter fell onto him. It a split second Peter found himself being lifted up into Juno’s arms and moved back onto the bed. He was cradled against the shorter lady, his head rested on his chest so that he could hear a steady and calm heartbeat under his ear.  
“It’s alright, everything is going to be okay.” Juno was whispering in his ear, running hands up and down his back. “Just breathe for me Peter, just take deep breaths okay? Everyone’s left now, it’s just me and Buddy left.”  
It took a while before Peter really came back to himself, the tears finally ending and his breathing evening out. Once he was aware of his senses he realized the position he was in. Curled up in Juno’s lap, who was sitting with his back against the head of the bed, head rested on his chest and clinging desperately onto him. It was an embarrassing situation and yet Peter found himself too tired to care.  
“Hey,” Juno’s voice was soft when he spoke, reaching up to play with Peter’s hair.  
“Hey,” Peter did his best not to let his voice crack too much.  
Juno smiled “Are you feeling better?”  
“Yes, I’m terribly sorry. That was quite the display I suppose.” He began to move so that he could sit up, only to have Juno pull him back down.  
“Yeah no,” Juno let out a soft laugh. “I think you’ve moved around quite enough today. And I’m pretty sure you’re still pretty affected by the drugs Vespa gave you.”  
Peter gave up easily, letting Juno pull him back down. They readjusted for a moment before settling back down against the headboard. There were a few moments where they sat like that in the quiet, in a peace where Peter could almost forget why he was so anxious, and where they were.  
Suddenly there was a movement at the end of the bed, making Peter jump as he realized that they weren’t alone. A hand landed on his ankle, and a soft voice spoke up in the calm.  
“It’s going to be alright darling,” Buddy said, rubbing circles with her thumb onto his ankle. “Don’t worry Pete no one is upset with you.”  
“I didn’t think-”  
“Oh hush, there’s no point pretending Pete.” Buddy was scolding him, but her voice was filled with mirth. “Everyone else has left darling, know I now that Juno must know what is going on, he gave us some of the odd details after we crashed but I know there is much more to the story than that. I know you think that we are going to kick you out for the things that are in your past, but I need you to know that isn’t true. We want you here Pete, and there is very little that is going to change that.”  
Juno’s hand was still playing with his hair, the other holding Peter tightly against him. Slivers of anxiety were flittering at the edge of his mind, but he knew he was going to have to talk at some point. They were going to find out one way or another, and he would rather it came from him than some nameless police officer come to collect him.  
And so Peter Nureyev told her his story. Every moment of it. He started with his childhood, living on the streets before Mag found him. His days as a revolutionary on Brahma and of the father that never existed. He told her about New Kinshasa and the Guardian Angel System, and everything that happened there. Peter talked about running away as far as he could and becoming the best thief in the galaxy on his own. He told her briefly about Miasma and meeting Juno.  
Peter’s voice faded out into an awkward silence as he stopped talking and once again became aware of his situation. Juno was still holding him close, playing absently with his hair and the cuff of his ear. At the end of the bed Buddy was sitting silently, out of the corner of his eye Peter could see that her head was downturned and he could imagine a look of disdain and disappointment across her face.  
It was a long moment before Buddy spoke up, “I suppose I knew that there was something you weren’t telling us, Pete. But I never expected something quite like that.” Her hand was still resting on his ankle, and Peter only remembered it was as she squeezed just slightly. “Peter, darling, look at me.”  
The tears had begun to return, and Peter wanted nothing more than to curl further into Juno’s arms until he disappeared. But he knew that wasn’t possible and that neither Juno or Buddy would let him run away from this conversation. So he sat up slightly and turned to look at Buddy.  
She was watching him carefully, no longer bent over but instead sitting at her full height. Where he expected to see only hatred, there was something in her eyes that Peter hadn’t seen directed at him in a very long time.  
“Peter, I know this is something you must have held close to you for a very long time. It is obviously not a story you have told many people,” She turned a quick and knowing smile to Juno before looking once again into Peter’s eyes. “I also know that for some reason you believe that because of this we would send you away or leave you behind. And that is completely untrue. Peter, we love you, no don’t try and argue with me. Our family is exactly that, a family. We have differences and secrets and pasts that make that difficult some days but we are a family. And no matter how much anyone tries there’s very little they could do that would make a real family leave you.” Buddy stood up carefully and let go of Peter’s ankle, something he refused to admit to missing immediately. “Now, it’s my understanding that you still may be under the influence of some powerful pain killers. I am going to leave the two of you so that you can get some more sleep and when you have woken up and are feeling better we will go outside as a family and we will all face what is waiting for us on the other side.”


End file.
